Over three years ago, our New Hampshire Education Commissioner stopped me at the State House just outside Representatives Hall.
“You should sue!” he counseled.
“Why?”
“Didn’t you see that Union Leader opinion piece today?”
I soon found out that I was featured on a purported white supremacist list—which also included the commissioner—in a screed written by a Granite State gadfly upset by our well-founded concerns about the pernicious effects of teaching critical race theory (CRT).
(Gadfly: noun, “An annoying person, especially one who provokes others into action by criticism.”)
But as public figures, defamation suits against libelous writers weren’t realistic options for us. We ourselves chose to figuratively swim in ponds full of snapping turtles. And as a First Amendment advocate who blogs, writes op-eds, authors sports columns, and loves making Facebook comments, I understood the consequences of taking public positions.
Earlier this month, while campaigning before the state primary elections, I encountered literature all over my district portraying me as a scoundrel because I supported a law to improve our Right to Know procedures. (This is in addition to a nasty GROK hit piece on the same issue.) A flyer featuring my headshot superimposed over someone else’s body, and there I was at a table with some fat cat pushing a pile of currency at me. And the out-of-state money funding the effort came via my red team!
The blue team now plans to fire more shots my way as the November elections near. They’ve already set up an attack Facebook page.
Despite all this, I was again my district’s top primary vote-getter. Thank you, Canterbury and Loudon citizens. Nasty hit pieces often reveal more about authors than targets. Ditto re: attack FB sites.
Still, freedom of speech means ALL speech, whether majestic and mean, inspiring and ignorant, loving and libelous.
Anyway, the great 2021 CRT caper was recently back in the news. It turns out that another target of the gadfly did bring a defamation lawsuit against both the gadfly and the Union Leader. It went to the N.H. Supreme Court. I had no idea.
(Note: The Concord Monitor also printed the gadfly’s 2021 screed but prudently removed the names that the Union Leader included.)
Assisted by a pro bono attorney, the gadfly finally prevailed in court and recently took a victory lap with a Monitor piece claiming vindication after being stressed out by the lawsuit for several years. While the gadfly erred in how he authored his 2021 screed, he’s correct about our First Amendment and America’s wonderful speech freedoms.
Those freedoms are not only denied to those living under communism, Islamofascism, certain university administrations, or the Bow School Board but also to those living in most other Western democracies. To cite one of countless examples, a French court recently convicted two men for “contempt” for merely defacing an effigy of President Macron during a peaceful protest. Imagine if America convicted folks who shared memes!
Unfortunately, such restrictions on free expression are de rigueur throughout most democracies. But attempts to curb “hate speech” anywhere inevitably lead to the proverbial slippery slopes marked by inconsistencies in application, which chill the free expression Americans take for granted.
The First Amendment is first for a reason. Let gadflies be judged in the courts of public opinion instead of courts of law.
That said, the First Amendment also allows gadflies to apologize if they can acknowledge hubris and poor judgment. As Rajesh Pillai said, “The first to apologize is the bravest. The first to forgive is the strongest. The first to forget is the happiest.”
And as Silence Dogood (Ben Franklin’s pseudonym) once wrote, “Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.”
